Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe Calls eMap Dysfunctional Technology

Garikai Dzoma Avatar
school-kids-on-phone

Over the past weeks we have received a lot of calls, IMs and emails from frantic parents as they struggle with the eMap system. Parents who want to enrol their children at boarding schools are supposed to use this system instead of driving to each school looking for places.

Emap is a mess

While eMap was supposed to be a solution it is turning out to be a problem. According to a statement by Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president Takavafira Zhou, the online platform eMap system is a dysfunctional piece of technology. It would appear that it’s not just parents who are facing issues when trying to use the system. Teachers and schools are failing to use it.

Schools are failing to use the system to enrol students, a week after Grade seven results are out. Not even a single secondary school has managed to use the online applications to enrol. The schools are neither accepting the alternative manual method as they religiously wait for a directive from the ministry but sadly, nothing is coming from the ministry that in itself looks to be running out of ideas. Several parents are using their hard earned money to visit where schools they would have applied to only to be informed that the same schools were facing challenges in processing applications; why has the ministry adopted a system it cannot use. Several parents have been inconvenienced while uncertainty and anxiety has cropped into many candidates who cannot secure Form One places because of a dysfunctional technology that further points to incompetence and lackadaisical approach by the ministry.

The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education needs to put its house in order

The eMap system was born deformed and it has been plagued by problems from day one. The biggest problem in my book is the attitude problem. Officials have months when the system is not in use and they can improve it. Instead they keep it offline on a shelf somewhere and wheel the buggy thing back online-warts and all-every November.

We have outlined the system’s potential and list of things that need improvement on countless occasions. Last week we made a list of improvements that would make the system better for everyone. All our, and other people’s, pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

The major problem for me is that the system was developed and shoved on us in secrecy. There are no official detailed tutorials on how to use the system, no Fequently Asked Questions section to deal with people’s problems, no privacy policy, no phone number and no contact form. When parents or teachers hit a snag more often than not they end up getting in touch with Techzim because there is nowhere else to turn.

The good way was certainly better than this endless frustration

I went to a boarding school myself and for me the old way seems much better and well thought out. Most schools would require you to send an application letter while you were still in Grade 7. The school I ultimately went to send me a provisional acceptance letter and asked me to attend a written interview which they administered.

I went in and aced that interview and got my final acceptance letter around July of my Grade 7 year. The letter came with a list of requirements. By August of that year my father had bought most of the required items except the trunk which he bought in November. He had all the time in the world to raise my first fees too.

There were no incidents of blood pressure or tears. In fact I attended three interviews and got places for all these schools well before I even wrote my Grade 7 exams. You would think with the prevalence of technology such as WhatsApp, the Web and Email the whole process would be faster or easier – you would be wrong.

eMap is abandoned

It would seem the government simply ordered parents and schools to use eMap and just left the system as it is. The Zimbabwean government tends to do this a lot. They announce things in a flurry of pomp and fanfare before moving on. Remember ZIMASSET ,that meaningless phrase that passed through every official’s lips on a daily basis. Now it’s some rubbish about making us a mid-income economy by 2030.

eMap seems to be one of those ramblings someone, Mr Lazurus Dokora perhaps, came up with, now everyone is stuck with it until someone thinks of something else.

9 comments

  1. Anonymous

    i like emap. i find it a better solution to having to drive around looking for a form 1 place. i guess i was one of the lucky ones to not face any challenges and my niece did get a place for form 1 via emap.

    1. Garikai Dzoma

      I guess you are one of the lucky few. The idea of emap itself is actually quite good. It is the implementation that we currently have problems with.It has not been improved for years nor does it seem to have full time tech support.

    2. Anonymous

      Did you receive an SMS from the school already? My brother got a place at a school but hasn’t received an SMS as of yet

  2. Anonymous

    I agree with Anonymous because using the eMap was fairly easy and I saved my hard earned money as I didn’t have to go left, right and center looking for a place. I think I would have appreciated a more balanced article featuring opinions from all stakeholders ie parents and heads…

    1. Nokulunga Moyo

      Did you receive an SMS from the school already? My brother got a place at a school but hasn’t received an SMS as of yet

      1. irvine

        Fairly speaking, I think some people are just being negative for nothing. To me, this has been the best innovation by the government, I’m based in South Africa and I did my online applications for my kid without traveling back to Zim and my kid was accepted. For a free App, this deserves thumps up!!!!!!

        1. Garikai Dzoma

          No one is saying the idea of emap is not sensible! The site should be improved because it is lacking. This is a government app so it’s free in a sense but that’s not an excuse for it to have rubbish support.

  3. xholisa

    Technology developed locally is better.

    1. Garikai Dzoma

      Couldn’t agree more. Emap could do with improvements though

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